Three Days of Rain Explores Generational Differences at Nova's Black Box Theatre

Kids often forget that their parents existed as real people before having them. Kids also think they know everything. These two facts are the reasoning behind

Three Days of Rain

, which premieres Friday at the Black Box Theatre at Nova Southeastern University.

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Richard Greenberg, a Tony Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist, put together a two-act play which tells the story of three adults and their respective parents. The "kids" make up the first act of the play in which they try to understand what their parents' lives were like during the sixties. What they surmise couldn't be more wrong as we learn in the second act when we are transported back in time and get to witness what was really going on in the parents' lives.

The Promethean Theatre, the same theatre that whimsically treated audiences to Evil Dead the Musical last summer, presents a cast made up of Carbonell and Silver Palm Award favorites: Matthew William Chizever, Terry Hardcastle and Deborah L. Sherman, who play both the parents and the adult children who live in Richard Greenberg's world. Sherman spoke to us about the play and about Evil Dead the Musical.

New Times: Why did your theater choose to put on Three Days of Rain?

Deborah L. Sherman: I love Greenberg and have been wanting to do this show for years and we were able to get the right cast and team together so the timing was perfect. I love this cast -- our director Margaret M. Ledford and our kick ass design and construction team.

Tell us how it feels for an actor to play two completely different characters in the same play.

It is truly one of the hardest things to do especially since we are all playing our mothers and fathers and our own offspring. There is some connection, of course, but these are still very different and emotionally complex people that happen to be related. Finding the commonality and the separation is a challenge...but very exciting.

We know your theater has put on Evil Dead the Musical and other lighthearted, poppy fare. Was it all shits and giggles or was there some heavy subtext going on?

It's a little of both I think. Theatre is a very specific art form. For me, the main thing is that we as theatre people tend to take ourselves too seriously. If it isn't "high art" then it's crap and I think that's a load of bullshit. Evil Dead was tons of fun -- conceptual and stupid all at the same time. The audiences ate it up and it introduced the world of theatre to people that may not otherwise step foot into a play or musical. We want those people to come back to see our silliness, but also see the beauty of storytelling from any level. There is value in camp and value from Shakespeare to Richard Greenberg. We love it all and want to be the people that can offer it all in every capacity. We do this work for the audiences to enjoy -- they are our highest priority -- besides making the work process fun and enjoyable for everyone involved.

If you could cast any famous/known stage actors in one of your plays who would it be?Carol Burnett, Ian McKellen, David Tennent, Patrick Stewart, Bill Irwin, Cherry Jones, Estelle Parsons, and Robin Williams.

What is your favorite part of what you do as an actress?

Getting to live in someone else's skin for a few hours.

What role would you love to play that you haven't yet?

Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

What should audiences expect from Three Days of Rain?

Two very different perspectives on life and love. We have one idea of who are parents were as they were young and who they are to us when we were growing up. In this show we see the realities of both sides of the story. The truth is not always what we think it is.

Name a "classic" play (or playwright) that you feel is overrated or over-hyped.

That is a loaded question, but I am not a huge fan of most musicals and I am not a fan of Long Day's Journey Into Night. I think it's because of the myriad of bad productions of it I have had to sit through.

Are there any local actors or directors that you would love to work with, but haven't?

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Do you have a favorite line of dialogue from Three Days of Rain?

I have several, but I don't want to give them away.

Three Days of Rain runs until June 5 at the Black Box Theatre at Nova Southeastern University (301 College Ave., Davie). Friday and Saturday show times are at 8 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays there is also a matinee performance at 3 p.m. Tickets cost $15 - $25. Visit theprometheantheatre.org or call 866-811-4111.

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